Artificial hairpiece



June 30, 1964 D. FRISHMAN 3,139,093

ARTIFICIAL HAIRPIECE Filed Sept. 12, 1963 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 F I G. 2

mvsrvron Daniel Frishmon ATTORNEYS June 30, 1964 o. FRISHMAN ARTIFICIALHAIRPIECE 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 12, 1963 uywsuron Donlel FrlshmonFIG .5.

w. 'j' ATTO RNEYS June 30, 1964 D. FRISHMAN 3,139,093

ARTIFICIAL HAIRPIECE Filed Sept. 12, 1963 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTORDaniel Frishmcm FI W ATTORNEYS June 30, 1964 0. FRISHMAN 3,139,093

ARTIFICIAL HAIRPIECE.

Filed Sept. 12, 1963 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 D a o FIG 8 INVENTOR.

Daniel Frishman ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,139,093 ARTIFICIALHAIRPIECE Daniel Frishman, Andover, Mass, assignor to Reid- Meredith,lnc., Lawrence, Mas a corporation of Utah Filed Sept. 12, 1963, Ser. No.308,598 8 Claims. (Cl. 132-53) The present invention relates to a longhaired pile fabric, process and apparatus for manufacturing the same,and articles made therefrom, and is a continuation-in-part applicationof my pending application, Serial No. 234,587, filed October 30, 1962(now abandoned), and relates in one embodiment to wigs to be donned byfemales as a hairdress as distinguished from a hat or other externalornamental or covering device worn by the human being.

An object of the present invention is to provide an article ofmanufacture of the above type which may be economically constructed andwhich will have all of the appearances and hair characteristics of themore expensive handmade articles and those made of natural hair.

A wig constructed in accordance with the present invention may be madeof either natural hair strands or synthetic monofilaments, such as forexample Dynel. The wig, constructed in accordance with the presentinvention, is shaped to conform to the contour of the human head and tobe retained thereon without creeping, sliding or in any other mannerbeing accidentally displaced thereon or dislodged therefrom.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a wig, the hair ofwhich is manageable and stylable so that the wearer thereof may readilychange hair styles, the previous hair style of which may be removed bysimply combing the wig in the case of Dynel strands.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a relativelysimple and economical process whereby a hairpiece may be knit, formed,and styled requiring a minimum of human attention per unit ofmanufacture. The process entails dolfing the hair or syntheticmonofilament into a circular knitting machine at the time of knittingthe base cap or fabric of the wig to thereby lock or restrain thefilaments against sliding or accidental loss from their interlockedrelationship with the cap structure of the wig during use of the wig bythe wearer.

A sliver is prepared from a tow which consists of several thousandfilament ends which have been previously dyed and the cut ends have beenblended or introduced without blending to a converter which issues forththe sliver. The sliver is then fed to the carding mechanism of a WildmanJacquard or similar type machine, which card mechanism has been modifiedto accommodate the greater than five inch length of Dynel ends of thesliver and to present the Dynel ends to the needles of the knittingmachine whereby they are dotfed from the card roll onto the needles inadvance of the introduction of the knit yarn ends to the knittingneedles. The filament ends are fed to the needles in such a manner thatat the time of knitting they are not wound or twisted with one another.In order to carry out these steps of the method, mechanical modificationwas required to the carding mechanism of the Wildman Jacquard machine.

The method further is an advance over the prior art in that the tubularfabric knit is then opened and cut into lengths having a relativelysmooth back and a long hairy face.

The thus knit fabric is then shaped or formed to accommodate its beingreceived over and retained upon the head of a human being. The wig afterforming may then be styled.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, the invention will be morefully described hereinafter, and will be more particularly pointed outin the claims appended hereto.

In the drawings, wherein like symbols refer to like or correspondingparts throughout the several views:

FIGURE 1 is a photograph of a styled wig constructed in accordance withthe present invention.

FIGURE 2 is a photographic view similar to FIGURE 1 of a modified formof hair style of the same basic wig of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 is a photograph of a wig constructed in accordance with thepresent invention with the cap portion thereof inverted.

FIGURE 4 is a photographic view similar to FIGURE 3 of a modified formof cap portion.

FIGURE 5 is a photograph of a wig constructed in accordance with thepresent invention during the taping step of the wig forming process.

FIGURE 6 is a magnified photograph of the knit structure and method oflocking the hair-like filaments to the basic wig cap structure.

FIGURE 7 is a magnified photograph taken from the reverse side of FIGURE6.

FIGURE 8 is a perspective view of a Wildman Jacquard circular knittingmachine modified in accordance with the present invention for knittingwigs.

The Process The process and apparatus of the present invention asdirected to the production of a wig or artificial hairpiece is shown inFIGURES 1 through 4 which comprises generally a knit cover A havinghair-like filaments B looped therewith, which filaments may be either ofnatural hair or synthetic monofilaments stylable into a wig to be wornover the hair on the human head. The knit cover A is formed to begeometrically complemental to the upper portions of the human head.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, and for the moment toFIGURES 1 through 8, one form of practicing the process of producing anartificial hairpiece in accordance with the present invention is shown.

Preparatory to commencing the process illustrated, a sliver 30 isprepared by initially taking a tow consisting of filaments of 24 to 40denier Dynel, dyeing the same to the desired shade or color for thefilament ends of the artificial hairpiece to be constructed. For bestresults the coarser deniers in this range are preferred. The dyed tow isthen passed through a Pacific Converter in which the dyed tow is cutinto ends, for example and preferably. in excess of five inches inlength, and for example in the wigs shown in FIGURES l and 2, nine inchends are employed.

These cut ends are then blended to form the sliver 30. The sliver isthen wound upon a reel or drum 31 or coiled in a container. The sliver,best seen in FIGURE 8, is then introduced to the card mechanism 34through its feed rolls. The filaments of the sliver are introduced tothe card cylinder through a lickerin in conventional carding practice.The filaments traveling on the card cylinder are removed therefrom by abelt doffer 37 having pinlike projections thereon for engaging andremoving from the card cylinder the filaments from the sliver fordoffing these filaments onto the knitting needles of a Wildman Jacquardor similar circular knitting machine 40.

As the needle cylinder of the Wildman Jacquard machine rotatescounterclockwise, the needles having the filaments thereon are advancedto a knit point which is the conventional knitting feed for one or moreends of yarn which will form the cover or cap structure of theartificial hairpiece. The yarns may be of any suitable material such astwo ends of nylon, Acrilan or even, because of its stretchcharacteristics, Lycra or other spandex or elastic yarn.

Also at this point torque yarns may be employed to provide the ultimatedesired stretch characteristics for the cover of the hairpiece, that is,characteristics in excess of the normally inherent contractilecharacteristics of any knit fabric due to the knit structure. At theknit point the filaments from the sliver are introduced into the coverfabric as it is being knit and the fabric 42 is shown in FIGURE 8descending from the needle cylinder to the take-up mechanism of theWildman Jacquard or similar machine.

The filaments are secured or looped to the knit cover structure on theinside of the tube 42 and the outside thereof shown in the drawing is arelatively smooth knit structure. A back coating may be applied tofacilitate locking of the filaments in the knit structure of the fabric.

The inside of the tube 42 has a long hairy face of long Dynel 40 denierfilaments. The tube is then opened to form a fabric having a smooth knitsurface on one side and a long hairy face on the other side. At thispoint the thus formed fabric may be made into wigs.

In the preferred embodiment of making a wig, a length of knit tubularfabric 42 containing the looped filaments in the knit structure is thenremoved from the Wildman Jacquard machine 40, the tubular fabric is slitto open the same and a section of the fabric, may be placed over aforming station where a die member imparts to the fabric a crown shapeor cavity generally complemental to the outside contour of the upperportions of the human head. The thus formed section is then re-invertedwith the cavity directed upwardly, at which time the portion of thefabric surrounding a head form or mold is than taped with elastic orresilient tapes applied, for instance, by adhesive to at least assist inconfining the wig to the head form and ultimately to the head of thewearer.

Prior to the taping when the cap or cover structure is in the invertedposition, a template is applied over the smooth side of the fabric onthe head form to mark the outlines for the application of tapes andelastic bands. The wig is then taped and the excess fabric removedtherefrom, as shown in FIGURE 5.

The tapes may be further secured to the cover structure as by sewing atthe corners and tacking or by sewing at other portions of the tape. Thewig is then re-inverted and placed upon a head form, with the filamentside outwardly and the wig is brushed prior to styling to remove anyexcess filaments and to orient the filaments for styling.

The wig is then washed in water to remove the water soluble chemicals onthe various filaments and yarns which facilitate their knitting. Thethus washed wig is then subjected to a chemical bath to render the hairfilaments more susceptible to handling and styling.

With the artificial hairpiece still mounted on a head form, thefilaments are put up in curlers following conventional hair dressingpractice. The head form and wig with curlers are then placed in asetting oven for imparting at least a partial thermal set in thefilaments while in the curled condition so that upon removal of thecurlers the filaments will possess the liveliness and body essential tothe correct styling of the hairlike filaments of the exterior surface ofthe wig. Such a thermally formed and set wig is shown photographicallyin two hair styles are shown in FIGURES l and 2 of the drawings of wigsconstructed in accordance with the foregoing process.

To further assure, by means other than the knitting operation, that thefilaments be retained in the cover or cap structure, a synthetic bondingmaterial or adhesive may be applied to the non-filament or smooth sideof the fabric.

As an alternative a section of the knit tubular fabric just large enoughto make a single wig may be cut and placed over a forming block andpinned in place after which a template is applied over the fabric andchalk lines drawn to define the tape lines over which is applied thetapes which are stapled in place. The tapes are coated with an adhesiveto secure them in place. Any suitable adhesive, including thoserequiring solvent activation, may be used. After taping the excessfabric beyond the terminal edge of the wig line is cut away. The staplesare removed, the wig washed and dried, put up in curlers, heat sets,curlers removed, wig combed out, thinned and styled.

The Article Referring to FIGURES 1 through 7 inclusive, and for themoment specifically to FIGURES 6 and 7, the knit structure of the coverA is shown in a magnified photograph which reveals the base coverstructure to be knit from two ends of nylon 42 Groups or tufts ofhair-like filaments 42 are shown interlaced between the bight of aneedle loop 42 and the base curved portions of sinker loops 42. Thephotograph of FIGURE 7 is of the inner side of the identical fabric ofFIGURE 6.

The structure of FIGURES 6 and 7, while showing interlacing as one formof securing or looping the filaments 42 with the cap or cover structureA of the wig, is but one form of securing these-filaments to the knitcover structure. They may be interknit or interlaced in groups or tufts.However, the important factor in this structure is that they are loopedagainst being readily pulled out or removed from the cap structure. Thedensity of the knit structure of the cover both course-wise andWale-wise has been regulated to provide an open area to permit the poresof the head of the wearer to breathe in a natural manner and to reducethe overheating of the head which would come about from the use, of atight knit structure.

The human head, particularly the upper portion thereof, over which a wigwill be worn, is anatomically divided into frontal, parietal, occipitaland temporal lobes. These lobe areas of the human head are not identicalfor all human beings, some of these areas being more accentuated thanothers among human beings. It has been found, however, that generallyspeaking the human skull has a pronounced inwardly directed area fromthe outermost portion of the temporal lobes and for the wig to stay onthe head of the wearer the wig must be forced to not only pass over thetemporal areas when placing it on the head of the wearer, but it mustalso contract to embrace the lesser width areas of the head of thewearer below the temporal area. While this property of expansion andcontraction of the cover to accommodate the temporal area has beenemphasized, it is equally important that the wig conform to thegeometric irregularities in the other areas above identified.

To further accomplish this end, as shown in FIGURES 3, 4 and 5, the knitcover A is taped by non-resilient tapes C which extend at least along orin the vicinity of the terminal edges of the knit cover. Auxiliary tapeareas C may be employed to further assist the knit cover in conformingto irregularities in the head structure as well as to retain the wigtightly about its edges to the head of the wearer so that the naturalhair on the head of the wearer will not extend below the wig line, orline defined by the knit cover which extends wholly or partially overthe portions of the skull above defined.

As best seen in FIGURE 3 the larger tape at the frontal area of the wigmay be either a resilient or non-resilient tape as will be the edgetapes C. A resilient tape may be placed across the rear or left-hand endof the wig, as seen in FIGURES 3 and 4, but combinations of bothresilient and non-resilient tapes may be employed. When the knit coveris knit of a stretch yarn such as a nylon torque yarn or Lycra, thetapes may be eliminated, but in the embodiment shown where both ends areregular nylon 42 the tapes are employed.

In order to assure that the tapes have been applied in the proper areasthe tapes are applied while the inverted cover A is placed upon a headform D, as shown in FIG- URE 5.

The hair-like filaments B employed with the cover A may be natural orsynthetic and may be dyed different colors and blends of colors may beemployed to further enhance styling characteristics.

A knit cover, because of its structure, possesses certain inherentproperties of expansion and contraction. These properties are preferablyfurther enhanced and assisted for retaining the wig on the head of thewearer by the use of the resilient tapes. FIGURES 3, 4 and 5 show theknit cap in final shaped form having closeness of the knit lines at theleftand right-hand ends of each of the covers of FIGURES 3 and 4 ascompared to the more widely spaced intermediate areas, thus providinginherent expansive and contractile characteristics. This is very muchemphasized when the wig is in its relaxed condition as it is in FIGURES3 and 4.

The stylable filaments 42 may be of natural hair, nylon or othersynthetic filaments although most satisfactory results are obtained withthe modacrylic yarn known as Dynel or Verel.

The backing yarn 42 can be of a variety of materials. I have usedcotton, acrylic, modacrylic, nylon and stretch nylon backing yarns. Atthe present for a wig, a filament nylon yarn is being used because thisgives excellent strength with the least amount of fuzziness so that anopen ventilated structure can be obtained. With certain yarns which canbe easily heatset, as for example, the modacrylic yarns, one can obtaingood locking of the back and di mensional stability by treating thefabric with infra-red or hot air so that the backing yarn reaches atemperature of about 290 F. Nylon, too, can be heat set but thisrequires temperatures of closer to 400 F. The acrylic backing yarns canbe utilized for moldeed objects. While they are in a strict sense of theword not heat-settable they can be deformed and set in a newconfiguration with heat.

In connection with back coating materials, since this is a knittedfabric, it is desirable to apply a natural or synthetic latex or resinto the back of the fabric for dimensional stability.

Although I have disclosed herein the best forms of the invention knownto me at this time, I reserve the right to all such modifications andchanges as may come within the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A stylable artificial hairpiece for use with the headof a human beinghaving frontal, parietal, occipital and temporal lobes, all of which areto be at least partially covered comprising (a) a knit cover havinginner and outer sides formed to conform at its inner side to portions atleast of said frontal, parietal, occipital and temporal lobes of thehuman head, and

(b) stylable filaments in excess of five inches in length secured tosaid knit cover by interlacing tufts of filaments in the knit structurethereof.

2. An artificial hairpiece as claimed in claim 1 wherein said filamentsare (c) secured to said knit cover by interlacing and bonding ofthefilaments to the knit cover.

3. A stylable artificial hairpiece for use with the head of a humanbeing having frontal, parietal, occipital and temporal lobes, all ofwhich are to be at least partially covered comprising (a) a knit coverhaving inner and outer sides formed to conform at its inner side toportions at least of said frontal, parietal, occipital and temporallobes of the human head, and

(b) stylable filaments in excess of five inches in length interknit andbonded in the knit structure of said knit cover with both ends of thestylable filaments extending from the outer side of said knit cover.

6 4. A stylable artificial hairpiece for use with the head of a humanbeing having frontal, parietal, occipital and temporal lobes, all ofwhich are to be at least partially covered comprising (a) a knit coverhaving inner and outer sides formed to conform at its inner side toportions at least of said frontal, parietal, occipital and temporallobes of the human head, and (b) stylable filaments in excess of fiveinches in length interknit in the knit structure of said knit cover withboth ends of the stylable filaments extending from the outer side ofsaid knit cover. 5. An artificial hairpiece as claimed in claim 4wherein said stylable filaments are 24 to 40 denier modacrylic 6. Anartificial hairpiece as claimed in claim 4 further comprising (0)conforming tapes secured to the inner side of the knit cover proximatethe edges thereof for causing the edges of the hairpiece to conform tothe head of the wearer after being passed over the temporal lobes of thehead.

7. An artificial hairpiece as claimed in claim 6 wherein said conformingtapes (d) have properties of expansion and contraction to facilitateconformation of the knit cover to the head of the wearer.

8. A stylable artificial hairpiece for use with the head of a humanbeing having frontal, parietal, occipital and temporal lobes, all ofwhich are to be at least partially covered comprising (a) a knit fabrichaving inner and outer sides formed to conform at its inner side toportions at least of said frontal, parietal, occipital and temporallobes,

(b) a plurality of noncrimped filaments having an average length of atleast five inches and a denier of greater than 24 looped simultaneouslywith the formation of the loops of said fabric at bights intermediatethe ends of said filaments with both ends of each of said filamentsprojecting from said outer side, and

(c) a bonding means coated on said inner side and interlocking saidfilaments at said bights to said loops, and with the openings formed bythe knit stitches of said fabric free of occlusion by said bondingmeans.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTSFOREIGN PATENTS Germany Feb. 28, Great Britain May 17,

3. A STYLABLE ARTIFICIAL HAIRPIECE FOR USE WITH THE HEAD OF A HUMAN BEING HAVING FRONTAL, PARIETAL, OCCIPITAL AND TEMPORAL LOBES, ALL OF WHICH ARE TO BE AT LEAST PARTIALLY COVERED COMPRISING (A) A KNIT COVER HAVING INNER AND OUTER SIDES FORMED TO CONFORM AT ITS INNER SIDE TO PORTIONS AT LEAST OF SAID FRONTAL, PARIETAL, OCCIPITAL AND TEMPORAL LOBES OF THE HUMAN HEAD, AND (B) STYLABLE FILAMENTS IN EXCESS OF FIVE INCHES IN LENGTH INTERKNIT AND BONDED IN THE KNIT STRUCTURE OF SAID KNIT COVER WITH BOTH ENDS OF THE STYLABLE FILAMENTS EXTENDING FROM THE OUTER SIDE OF SAID KNIT COVER. 